Dustin Armbruster
The Hays High Indians boys team finished off a busy week with their third road trip in five days. The Hays bus had taken the team to Abilene on Tuesday, Garden City on Friday and the Colby on Saturday. The game was originally supposed to be played in December, but was postponed due to weather and travel concerns.
Hays nailed four of their first five three point shots on their way to a nine point lead 16-7 just inside of three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Hays did not score for the remainder of the quarter but held Colby to just a free throw over the same time period, leaving Hays High with a 27-22 lead after the first quarter.
Hays hit a three pointer to open the second quarter to build their to a first half high 11 at 19-8. Colby responded with a 7-3 run and eventually trimmed the Hays lead down to five at 25-20 and had two chances to get the game back to a single possession contest. Hays led one more time by seven but Colby trimmed the lead down to five by halftime 27-22.
Highlights
Colby scored the first six points of second half to take their only lead of the game at 28-27. Peyton Kieffer answered back with a three pointer just ten second later to spark an 11-0 Hays run that built the lead up to ten, 38-28. The eventually grew to a game high twelve before Colby scored the final four points of the third quarter to get within six at 44-36.
Colby used those six points to start an 11-1 run pull within two at 45-43. Colby missed their one shot at a tie in the fourth quarter and Hays took back a two possession lead following a Tyrese Hill stick back bucket at 47-43. Hays scored just one point in the final two minutes of the game and four during the entire quarter, but it was enough to hang on for a 48-44 victory over Colby.
Coach Rick Keltner
Cole Murphy hit four three pointers, scoring 12 points and Claiborne Kyles also scored 12 and made three three pointers. The two have combined for 13 three pointers in the last two games. Colby got 16 points from Jordan Schippers and 10 from Brooks Curry. Hays improves to 12-6 on the year. Colby falls to 3-15.
Hays heads head to Dodge City on Tuesday and hosts Great Bend on Friday to close out the regular season.